Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

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I, like many people around the world, am a big fan of the Harry Potter franchise. I have read all the books, seen all of the movies multiple times, and have had a butter beer at Diagon Alley in Universal Studios. That being said, I have to admit that I am bias to any movie that takes place in the Harry Potter Universe. In our newest installment of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Professor Albus Dumbledore must stop the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald from trying to take over the wizarding world. He must rely on Newt Scamander to lead a group of witches, wizards, and one lovable muggle to help him enact his plan. What follows is The Good, The Bad, and The Spoilers of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

The Good

In this new Fantastic Beasts we find ourselves with yet another Gellert Grindelwald. In the first movie, Colin Farrell plays a disguised Grindelwald, later revealed as Johnny Depp. Depp continues to play the dark wizard in the second movie. Now in the third movie we have Mads Mikkelsen taking on the role of the dark wizard. Now, I know everyone has their own opinion on the Warner Bros/Depp/Heard debacle, and I’m not touching on that here. I just want to say that I personally felt that Mikkelsen dominated the role in this movie. From his first scene with Dumbledore (Jude Law) in the restaurant, I was sold on his ability to take on this role and add his own layer of complexity. His was defiantly one of the “good” points I had to address with this movie.

Another “good” point for this movie was what I will simple call the “mind battles”. I know some people said there wasn’t a lot of magical duels in this movie, but I was a huge fan of the 2 mind battle we got in this move. The first in the street in the middle of the city, where Credence ripped the street and buildings to pieces to try and kill Dumbledore. It was a way we could see the sheer power Credence would wield, while not actually exposing the wizarding world to the muggles. The second mind battle though was by far my favorite scene of the movie. We finally get to see Dumbledore and Grindelwald flex their magical muscle on each other. I loved that when it came down to it, neither of them could cross that line to defeat the other. Their feelings for each other still trumped everything else. It makes me look forward to when the day comes that they will have to have the final battle. (Which we all know will happen so that Dumbledore will gain control of The Elder Wand)

The Bad

So my one “bad” point is going to sound ironic and it is about believability. I know, it’s a movie about magic, monster, wizards, witches, etc… how can I have an issue with believability? Well in this movie centers around a political election. (Side note: I love getting to see the wizard politics, not something I have a problem with at all.) There is a major battle between 2 factions taking place, both sides are proud and outside proclaiming their support. My issue with believability is that Grindelwald walks in as a MAJOR criminal and in a few short days, he suddenly has the mass majority of people behind him. I’m suppose to believe that all of these people heard this man talk once and BOOM they are changing sides and want him to be in charge. This just really bothered me at the end of the film. I’m sure there is some way we could compare this to the current political climate, but I’m not touching that with a twenty-foot pole.

My Overall Opinion

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, you are seeing this movie, if you didn’t see it already. Fantastic Beasts 3 offers another great look at the history of the Wizarding World and the events that happened before Voldemort ever tried to conquer anything. We get to learn more about why Dumbledore is so amazing, and Jude Law does a great job helping up continue to love the character.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with my points? Comment your thoughts below.

 

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